President Rejects Double Standard Claims : Politics: Clinton insists that all interviews of applicants for federal posts, whether men or women, are handled in an evenhanded manner.

President Clinton on Monday rejected claims that his Administration’s standards are tougher for women seeking federal posts than for men, saying that White House officials have interviewed applicants “in a totally evenhanded fashion.”

The statement came in reaction to criticism that White House officials rejected the candidacy of U.S. District Judge Kimba M. Wood for attorney general over her wholly legal hiring of an immigrant baby-sitter, while failing even to question Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown about his arrangements with household employees.

Brown disclosed Sunday that he had failed to pay Social Security taxes for a housekeeper, an infraction for which he paid $1,200 last month in back taxes and interest.

Clinton said that Cabinet candidates had not been asked questions about household employees until Zoe Baird, the President’s first choice for attorney general, told White House officials that she and her husband had employed two illegal immigrants from Peru. Her nomination subsequently was withdrawn.

“This issue was never an issue--and it never occurred to anyone to make it an issue--until Zoe Baird voluntarily disclosed it,” Clinton said during an afternoon White House press conference. “So no one was subjected to a double standard.”

Since then, “all of our interviews, for men and women alike, have been conducted in a totally evenhanded fashion,” Clinton said. He added, however, that he believed candidates for attorney general “should be held to a higher standard than other Cabinet members on matters of this kind.”

Brown’s disclosure brought an outpouring of criticism from leaders of some women’s groups, who first saw Baird, then Wood, forced to withdraw because of problems involving their employment of household help.

White House officials Friday urged Wood to withdraw her candidacy because they believed that the federal judge had not been fully forthcoming about the circumstances surrounding her hiring of a baby-sitter who was once an illegal immigrant.

Although Wood had committed no crime--having hired the woman before the passage of laws barring the hiring of illegal immigrants--Administration officials feared that the public might not have been able to discern the difference between her case and Baird’s. Any resulting uproar could have created another embarrassing situation for Clinton.

George Stephanopoulos, Clinton’s communications director, defended Brown Monday, suggesting that the law requiring employers to pay Social Security taxes for household help earning more than $50 in three months should be reconsidered.

“I think many Americans were not aware of this requirement,” Stephanopoulos said. “When Ron Brown became aware of it, he did pay the back taxes. And now, as I said, all Cabinet officials will comply with the law.”

Noting that the law in question was written in 1954, Stephanopoulos said: “That’s an awfully long time ago. I think that’s something that certainly needs to be looked at.”

Stephanopoulos said that a Cabinet candidate should not be disqualified simply because he or she had not paid such taxes. “I’m not sure we can set a hard standard on that at this time,” he said. “Clearly, there are special requirements for the post of attorney general.”

However, Stephanopoulos indicated that candidates for presidential appointments would probably be disqualified if they had hired illegal immigrants to work for them.

Kevin Sweeney, a spokesman for Brown, said Monday that the commerce secretary paid the $1,200 in back taxes and interest for the housekeeper on Jan. 26. The woman worked for Brown intermittently over a five-year period, and was paid $40 for each four-hour visit.

The spokesman said that he believes the Internal Revenue Service had waived a penalty because Brown had come forward voluntarily. IRS officials said that the decision to impose penalties varies from case to case but that the agency can levy fines of as much as 48% of the taxes owed.

In an interview with The Times on Saturday, a spokesman for Brown denied that the commerce secretary had ever employed illegal immigrants or had failed to pay Social Security taxes. On Monday, a spokesman said that the response was the result of a “misunderstanding.”

Capitol Hill aides said that lawmakers have indicated there is significant support in Congress for legislation to ease the burden of Social Security withholding requirements on employers of household help.

Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has introduced legislation that would require such employers to file only if they paid a household employee $300 annually.

Meanwhile, White House officials acknowledged Monday that they have given a larger role to Paul Begala and James Carville, two political consultants who helped mastermind Clinton’s successful presidential campaign. Some observers have contended that the White House lacks the kind of focus that was a hallmark of the Clinton campaign.

Begala is helping temporarily on political issues and acting as a part-time spokesman for the White House. Carville also has contributed time in recent days.

But Stephanopoulos denied that the men were taken on for “damage control.”

In communicating his message, “for the bulk of last week, the President was very successful,” Stephanopoulos said.

Meanwhile, Housing Secretary Henry G. Cisneros said that he believes the focus on illegal immigration stirred by the Baird and Wood cases has caused fear among Latinos.

“It strikes me that there must be a tremendous amount of fear among possibly documented and even native-born Latinos today with the focus on this issue,” Cisneros said.

Times staff writer Gebe Martinez contributed to this story.